‘Progress is relentless’: Still no opening date for Eglinton Crosstown LRT

Phil Verster says “progress is relentless” on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT but the Metrolinx CEO is still not able to provide an opening date for the much-maligned transit project.

During an unrelated press conference by the Ford government touting construction on three stations for the future Ontario Line, Verster said progress on the Eglinton Crosstown project has stabilized adding that a couple of significant milestones have been achieved and that they are “relentlessly progressing towards an opening date.”

“One of the most important milestones was at the end of July. For four consecutive days we operated 75 per cent of the fleet, which delivers the service level six that we’ll have on opening day, eight hours a day, relentlessly, to check that the infrastructure is ready for the next stage which is so important which is operator driver training for the TTC,” said Verster. “It wasn’t perfection – there were still issues with the signalling and control system – but all of the important infrastructure held up to the extent that the TTC and ourselves were satisfied to start operator driver training.”

Verster said operator driver training is now in its fourth week, pushing the project closer to “substantial completion.”

Another milestone he highlighted was the system integration testing, which is now 84 per cent complete. A year ago today, after eight or nine months of testing it was less than 10 per cent.

But when pressed about an opening date, Verster remained uncommitted.

“Progress is relentless. I can say it’s stabilized. I’m not giving you a date. I’ll give you a date three months in advance of opening day but I’m satisfied that we are relentlessly making progress towards an opening day.”

When pressed by reporters that it is looking more and more like the line will become operational in 2025, Verster said any kind of speculation only creates “fictitious deadlines.”

“I’m not going to speculate on dates because that gets us into a messy place but I will give you the assurance that when we open we will operate reliably and we’ll operate safely, and that’s the priority. …We will declare a date as soon as we can.”

Verster said the Finch West LRT project is also “progressing well” and he expects both projects will be completed relatively close to each other.

“Allow me to take a deep sigh. Allow me to feel empathetic to all the local businesses and the residents that have been waiting for YEARS for Eglinton Crosstown to open,” said an exasperated Mayor Oliva Chow who spoke during an unrelated announcement. “Metrolinx will open the line sometime. I just hope it is soon.”

“It’s September 4. Two months it could be December 4 that they could make the announcement. There might still be a chance that it could still be within this year. I don’t know.”

Chow added she has expressed her frustration over the project delays to the provincial government.

“It’s beyond frustrating, it’s actually painful because I speak to the residents in the area, I look at the neighbourhood, they really need the line to be open.”